Quickie: Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer

I've been awful at posting, so here is a quick post about something which has been raved about by bloggers from the UK for a while now. Why it took me so long to try this considering the glowing reviews it has received is unknown to me, but this product is just as good as everyone says it is. 

I had been using MAC's Select Cover Up for a while, and to be honest it looked awful.

 It didn't match me properly (even though it was matched in store) and it I didn't feel it worked well enough for the price. To get it to cover my dark circles I had to put so much on, that it looked cakey and made me look OLD. Not cute. I have a  terrible habit of being like 'I bought it so I will use it up' so when it finally gave up the ghost last week, I thought I'd save myself a pretty penny and go drugstore. Considering all the rave reviews of the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer, I decided to go for it (the 3 for 2 at Boots was also an encouragement)

Firstly, this product is great value for money, at under £5 (£4.19 to be exact) this product performs like a high end concealer. It is creamy, but not too thick, brightening but not too bright (no one wants their under eye area to be blindingly light) and it is very blendable. I tend to blend with my ring finger, but this product also blends well with a concealer brush. Most importantly though, it works, it covers blemishes, redness, dark circles and gives the skin a bright, clear and flawless finish. I hate concealers that look obvious and thick, but this stuff doesn't crease or go patchy or dry. Having dry and patchy under eyes is not a good look. 

If you have dark circles which could rival those of the world's biggest insomniac, then I highly recommend giving this a try. In fact I recommend this in general, if you don't like it, you haven't spent a pretty penny to try it out. My favourite concealer of all time is Benefit's Erase Paste, but if your budget is a bit tighter, or you'd rather spend on something else, this is a good, drugstore and let's face it cheap alternative.

What's your favourite concealer? Have you tried this one, if so what did you think?

Hope you're all enjoying the start of Spring! 

Hannah x

Anatomicals - Puffy the Eye Bag Slayer. Does what it says on the tin??

OK, so first off let's all just take a minute to appreciate and applaud the name of this product. That part at least is fantastic, when I received this in my January Glossybox I snorted with laughter, because I love a good pun. So far so good, but now it's time to see whether or not this product really does what it says it will. Onward.

It retails at £6 for 3 packets and you can get them from ASOS. (Click the Glossybox link above to view the store)
The product looks like this: I'm sure we can all agree the packaging is pretty garish and girlie, but I think that's probably the point.

Before application you need to make sure your skin is completely clean and dry, so I cleansed, toned and waited about ten minutes before I applied them.
You need half an hour of sitting around with these on your face time, so I suggest making it part of a pamper day routine, rather than in the morning when you need to rush out of the house. However, if the product really works, time is not really an issue. But be prepared to sit around your house looking like this:

Weird frog chin/face is optional, but I think it makes it more fun, because let's be honest, this makes you look like a total freak. You could leave the house like this if you wanted to, but be prepared for the screams of strangers when you walk past. This I would say is a downside. 

When you take them out of the packet these weird little patches feel like slimy fish or something. They are slippery so I suggest doing it over the sink or somewhere similar, where they can't fall on the carpet and get covered in fluff. I'm going to be honest, when you first put them on, they feel gross. They are very liquidy (technical term) and slippery and cold on the skin. However, once they are on and stuck there that cooling feeling feels good, it feels brightening and awakening, which is then entire point of the packet. If you have really sensitive skin it might feel horrible, so remove as quickly as possible if that is the case. The good news is once they've been on for about 5 minutes you hardly even notice that they are there, which is good, because 30 mins is a long time to be wearing them. One downside is that they can slip down your face, especially if you move about a lot or poke them, so I would suggest relaxing and taking it easy when these slugs are in place.

But I guess the most important issue here is whether or not they WORKED. Well, drum roll please.....IT WORKS. My eye bags went from looking like this, WITH make up on (I'm an idiot and forget to take a before picture)

To this, WITHOUT make up on:

So what I am trying to say is that my eyebags look the same with make up on before using the product as they do after use. So this product definitely works, and I would repurchase. However one thing I will say is that an eye cream will do pretty much the same thing for me and I don't have to sit around for half hour with slimy slugs on my face, so although this product definitely works, it's not so ground breaking as to make me stock up on it. This is definitely a treat for a pamper evening for me, as at £6 a pop it could get pretty pricey otherwise. 

They do work, but they are time consuming. 
What are your favourite products for getting rid of those suitcases under your eyes? Have you tried these, if so what did you think? Feel free to leave a comment.
Hannah x

Favourites of 2013 - Skin Care

Jumping on the bandwagon perhaps a bit too late, but here are my favourites for 2013, although I'm sure some are missing.

Skin Care
 My favourite cleanser of 2013 has to be something inexpensive and drugstore. and it is.. Simple Kind to Skin Purifying Cleansing Lotion!

This stuff is great, especially if you have sensitive skin like I do, I have had trouble over the years finding a cleanser that leaves my skin feeling clean and not oily or sore and this does the trick. It has no scent or colouring so it has nothing that can cause a bad reaction (at least for me anyway), and I don't break out if I use it consistently at least once a day. At £2.99 a bottle it's also great value and has become a staple in my skin care routine, and my skin certainly doesn't like it when I change it.

My top Toner for 2013 has to be: the Barbor Rose Toning Water - £22

Another skin care product which has proven itself with regard to my sensitive skin. This stuff smells wonderful but sometimes scented products can lead to allergic reactions for me. This is not the case with this stuff however, it smells good, and feels great on the skin, and leaves a truly clean feeling all over my face. The cooling tingle is pleasant and leaves my skin tighter and closes those pesky pores right up.

Top Exfoliator/Face Scrub of 2013 - The Body Shop Tea Tree Squeaky Clean Scrub - £6.50

Once again with the sensitive skin issue, this stuff is great for ex-foliating your face but not causing break outs. Tea tree oil is great for preventing break outs of acne or just spots in general and this scrub is gentle on the skin and doesn't dry it out, but also leaves the skin feeling 'squeaky clean' as the name suggests! Huge fan of this product as I have used tea tree based products on my skin for many years after suffering terribly with acne as a teenager, so I swear by the stuff. Great for those of you with sensitive skin who don't want a harsh scrub but want to have clear pores and skin! 

Number 1 Eye Cream: Benefit It's Potent Eye Cream - £24.50

I've already done a full review of this product here, but I will reiterate that this stuff is amazing. I constantly suffer from huge bags under my eyes no matter how much sleep I have. Eye cream has been a new discovery for me this year and I was lucky enough to receive a sample of this and I am hooked. It is potent this will last you a long time, you don't need much for the desired effect. It isn't sticky, absorbs quickly and its cooling effect is pleasant and brightening. All in all a great product.

Top Moisturiser of 2013: Simple Hydrating Light Moisturiser - £3.99

Back with the cheap and cheerful, I can never bring myself to splash out on expensive moisturiser as from sampling in the past they break me out or cause reactions. But here is a steadfast friend that has so far never let me down. I have ridiculously oily skin, 5 mins and I'm shiny so anything light and airy is great for my face. This doesn't leave me oily and is quick drying so all in all I am a fan.

Favourite Serum of 2013 - Vichy Idealia Life Serum - RRP £29.50 but get from Boots.com for £24.50

This was a late 2013 discovery for me as I only found out about it thanks to my November Glossy Box! When I read the description and what it was meant to do I thought it was going to be a load of crap, and considering the price I was pretty much certain that I wouldn't purchase a full size. How wrong I was. This stuff is amazing, it's moisturising but not oily, it smells great and it feels so soft on the skin and really glides on. The whole point of it is to make your skin the best it can be, and it's also a great base for make up. It minimises redness and pores and I have to say I am so impressed with this product. Big price tag but you only need a tiny amount for your whole face. I am sold by this product!

And that's it skincare wise, keep an eye out for more favourites posts. 
What were your favourite skincare products of 2013? Leave a comment!

A Frank Post About Chronic Illness

This will not necessarily be a light and fluffy post, but it's not something I usually write about and I try not to talk about it all the time, but I think maybe it's time I wrote something about it not only for my own sanity, but for those of you out there who may be suffering from something similar, so here goes. There will be some expletives in here so if that offends you then here's your warning. 

I have Fibromyalgia which although I think it is a stupid name, makes sense in Latin, so there is that. This is not the worst case scenario for me, it is not life threatening or degenerative (although I do find it harder to do things sometimes) and will not reduce my life expectancy, so in a way I am grateful, the kind of way you might be grateful for only breaking your foot when you fall down the stairs. But I am mostly positive (at least it feels that way today.) 
Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain condition which involves muscular pain but also nerve pain. To be perfectly honest I'm not entirely sure what it is, and neither was the doctor, but I can say that it causes some pretty serious fatigue at times and some considerable pain. I am pretty much always in pain to a greater or lesser degree, but as I have already said, it's not degenerative and it's not going to kill me. There is no cure at the moment as it seems that no one can figure out the cause or what it actually is. But there's lots of research being done. 

One of the main reasons I wanted to write this post was to talk about going to the doctors and getting a diagnosis as this was an especially long and drawn out and at times mentally draining time for me, and if any of you are suffering from this, I wanted to give some advice: Don't Give Up. It might feel at times that the doctor is getting pissed off with you, or that they just want you to stop going back, but when it comes to your health, it is important to be tenacious. You have the right to demand more from your doctor, and you should. It took me 8 months to finally get a diagnosis (which is actually pretty swift for the condition) , and after about 5 of those I thought I must just be going mad and almost stopped going. But I am glad that I didn't because then it meant I couldn't sit there and worry about it being cancer or something similar. 

It started with a sharp pain in my arms and legs and then gradually I started feeling dull pain all over my body. I went to the doctors and was scheduled for a blood test. The tests all came back negative (for things like diabetes and thyroid conditions) and this lead to the doctor essentially telling me it was in my head. She told me I was just depressed and then went on to ask me about my relationship with my parents, in a very patronising manner, as if all depression is, is daddy issues or whatever. I didn't go back to her. I then met with a more sympathetic doctor who ordered more blood tests and gave me some prescription painkillers in the meantime to help me cope. 4 blood tests later and they all came back negative, I was referred to the specialist at the practice, who diagnosed me with Fibro. He was very friendly and it was nice to have a diagnosis, but it all seemed to me like although I had a diagnosis, no one knew what the illness was, I was given a leaflet to read and that was that.
Treatment wise it's just a case of pain management at the minute and tablets to help me sleep, which can be depressing. I don't like to take the pain killers because I don't want to become dependent, so only take them when it's really bad, but that can lead to me feeling shit 24/7. But I am so glad to know that it wasn't in my head, and that I was right to keep going back and pestering the doctors. 

Having to keep going back to the doctors for medication is a pain, but I have recently been put on a repeat prescription and provided there is no evidence of me abusing the painkillers I will be able to continue with this until I feel I need different treatment.

I wanted to say a huge thank you to all my family and close friends and to my partner (mushy) Joe, for putting up with me. When I have bad days I can be well and truly horrible, but having a support network is very important. I want to thank my friends for knowing I'm not a flake if I can't come out one night, and that if 3 nights in a row I say I need to stay in because I feel ill, believing me and not cutting me out. 
I also want to say a big thank you to myself, for trying as hard as possible not to wallow in self pity and for still going to the gym, travelling around the country to see friends and for not letting this get in the way of enjoying myself too much. 

One of the most important things I think if you are suffering similarly is not to use it as an excuse not to do things, I think these points can be related to a lot of chronic illnesses, and also to mental health issues. Remember that although at times it might feel like it your life isn't over, it's just one more challenge for you to overcome and you are allowed to be proud when you achieve something you thought you wouldn't be able to do that day, even if it's something as small as getting out of bed on a particularly bad day. Try to remain positive and know that there will be difficult days, but there will also be days where you feel almost normal. DO NOT feel bad for looking after yourself, even if it means cancelling plans, because when it comes down to it your health should always be the most important thing. Exercise. I know at times it will feel impossible, and it's a catch 22 that exercising is painful, but also beneficial at the same time. Go outside, don't sit around in your bedroom wishing you were someone else. Remember that it's OK to tell people you're not alright if you aren't, there's no sense in putting a brave face on it all the time, that's the kind of thing that leads to breakdowns. Appreciate everyone who sticks by you, this may be the time in your life where you find out who your friends really are, appreciate them more, appreciate your family and your relationships, because chances are they would take your place if they could, don't chastise them for being healthy etc. Always wear sunscreen. 

Please don't leave unkind comments, I know that it sounds made up and I know people have it a lot worse, but this is more a post for people who are suffering with something similar, to tell them not to give up when it comes to doctors, your health is too important, and then those with a diagnosis to know that there are lots of us out here who understand. I dunno, this wasn't meant to be whiny and I hope it hasn't come across that way, but it's something I wanted to talk about and this seemed as good a place as any to do so. 
Thanks for reading, I hope that if any of you are suffering health-wise that you feel better soon, or at least come to terms and peace with everything. For those of you who are good and healthy, don't take it for granted, your health at some point could be all you have. I realise I am not an authority on any of this, but yeah.

Love to you all - Hannah x 

January Weekend Make Up Look

What a genuinely terrible title, but I couldn't think of anything else to call this. Today I was feeling some nice warm tones to ward off the cold January weather so this is the result (excuse my awful in need of fixing eyebrows and weird shaped head)

These are the brushes I used: Real Techniques Expert Face Brush, Real Techniques Powder Brush, Real Techniques Blush Brush (are you sensing a pattern here?) a eyeshadow brush from God knows where and my MAC 217 Blending Brush (a literal God send):

And this is how I did it:

Because I have to go to work later, and I work in a bar which inevitably involves being hot and sweaty I started off my priming my face with Benefit's Stay Flawless 15 Hour Primer. This stuff definitely keeps my make up on for longer, but I'm not really sure it's worth the money, but if I've bought it I'm going to use it. When using this I make sure to do one side of my face at a time otherwise it dries and becomes even less useful.

And then because I am going to work and didn't want to use my expensive foundation and because I am so damn tired I used Rimmel's Wake Me Up Foundation in the shade Ivory. 

I applied this in two sections on my face (because of the primer) using the Expert Face Brush. This is a pretty high coverage foundation and I actually find it a bit too thick, so less is definitely more with this one. 

After this it is time for some much needed concealer, I use the MAC Select Cover-Up in the shade NW20 under my eyes, over a horrific spot on the bridge of my nose and then my chin which for some reason always gets ridiculously shiny (not pretty). 

Next it's time to set all that liquid sticking to the face and I am using my all time favourite face powder so far, which is the No7 Translucent Loose Powder. I like this because it has no colour and so sets make up without making it orange, I have struggled for many years with the dreaded not shiny but slightly orange face, and then my mum (bless her) bought me this and I no longer have that problem. I like quite a matte face when applying make up as my skin is always prone to shine later in the day. This product is great value for money as this usually lasts me about 6 months before it runs out. The only thing I will say is to put it on before getting dressed as it can get a bit messy!

Now it's time for brows one of the most important things on the face. My current brow routine is to stick a bit of primer on there and then use my Benefit Brow Kit in Light. First I use the wax to shape the brow and smooth down the stray hairs, then I go in with the powder to fill in the gaps in my eyebrows which are horribly patchy and then I'm good to go. I highly recommend this brow kit, as I find with pencils it can tend to rub off, whereas this lasts all day even in the face of the glass washer and hot pub. 

Now for my favourite part, eye make up. First I use the Rimmel Exaggerate Undercover Shadow Primer and put that all over the lid and also in the crease, and I let it dry. 

Today I want my eye make up to really pop 'cause I'm feeling pretty rubbish and looking nice always makes me feel better, so I've used this NYX eyeshadow pen in Milk all over the lid and in the crease. I love NYX products as they are inexpensive good quality products and they are also a cruelty free brand and it's always nice to try and be an ethical consumer where you can. 

Once that's done I turn to my new (I will do a haul post in what I bought this week in the sales) Too Faced Joy To All The Girls pallet. 

What a beautiful set of colours, full review to come soon, anyway back to the point....First I take the Cheers! golden peachy colour and apply this all over the lid, it's a beautiful peachy nude kind of colour with a slight (but not too much) shimmer. 

Next up I took the shade Cookie Dough on my MAC 217 fluffy blending brush and ran this through the crease as a transitional colour. I always like to use a nude matte shade in the crease before applying darker shadow or shimmer shadow as it makes it easier to blend and just looks a bit more put together. 

After this, using the same blending brush as before I took a dark taupey/browny (great use of fake words here) colour called Mulberry and started gently working this through the crease. I always find when working in the crease it's best to start slowly and build the colour if you want to. You can always add but it's a pain in the arse to take away. (That's a proverb right?) I then make sure I concentrate on winging out the outer corner a bit and adding some to the outer corner of the lid. 

And then last but not least (finally I hear you cry) using the same brush I add some of the colour sugar plum into the crease focusing on the outer corner and then down onto the lid and blend like my life depends on it. Once again less is more in this instance so start slowly and build. 

Now I just line my eyes using my Rimmel Glam Eyes liquid eyeliner, winging it out slightly at the outer corner as this is just something I like to do, even if at times I end up with ridiculous liner because I can't get them to match...

You probably didn't need a picture of that....

Lash time. I used a combination of two mascaras because I was feeling bored. I used my Lancome Hypnose mascara on my top lashes, and then the Too Faced Lashgasm on my lower lash line as it doesn't smudge onto the bottom of my eye lid, Once my top lashes were dry I went over them with the Lashgasm mascara to accentuate them a bit more and separate them out. 

And lastly to add the finishing touches to my face I contoured my face using the Body Shop's Shimmery Waves and then uses the colours together as a blush and finished it all off with an old and tatty red lipstick (which I won't post a picture of).

Oh and one last thing, a quick spray of my NYX Matte Finish Setting Spray and I am good to go. (This stuff works almost as well as Urban Decay's All Nighter Setting Spray and is half the price, so if you're on a budget I highly recommend. I came home from working all night and my make up was still pretty close to being perfect. 

I know the photos in this haven't been great but I tried to finally get something posted in as little time as possible so bear with me whilst I get the hang of this stuff, it's one thing to do it on my face and another to write it down in a step by step guide. 

ANYWAY, hope you found this post mildly amusing and that you had a lovely festive period and new year! 

Hannah - x